For this project we started by brainstorming an idea by thinking of problems going on in the world, in our town, and school. We walked throughout the school to get a view on the school and the ways it could be improved or if we found something interesting. Once we had our ideas figured out we learned as much as we could about the issue and made a plan/bullet points to create a base or outline for our subject. Preparing for this project took a lot of focused hard work as well as perseverance. The final product turned out really good because we all buckled down and worked really hard to put together our newspaper. It was nice because we could pick what teams we were on for getting ready for our exhibition and that seemed to motivate people a lot.

This project has really shaped my understanding of bias because I realize how much bias is spoken in school with my peers and the people around me. Learning about journalism in this class really showed me the time and effort that goes into writing and producing a newspaper. Learning about bias and balance was my favorite because I can realize how much of that is going on around us and start to think about how something can be interpreted by someone else. This could help me in my future because iI'vealways loved to write and show my artistic creativity through my writing.

My journalistic skills developed through this project because I was able to write about an issue that I chose so I felt inclined to do my best work. I learned to organize my ideas in a better way so that the story flowed smoother and my ideas were clear and not jumbled. I was challenged with starting my story and having enough background information for each idea. At first my story was very short and hard to work with because of this lack of information. But after my peers as well as Ally critiqued it my story was full of ideas on improvement and that was very helpful. Next time I would find quotes from people (if necessary) to make a better more reliable story.

Larrea Horner​The “Truth of War” DP UpdateThe truth of war was a very big project we learned about for months in Ally’s class. From the Gulf of Tonkin incident to our final art project. We learned about the Cold War such as who was involved and the powers between the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc. We learned about agent orange and the true fear people had about communists. After that we moved into the Gulf of Tonkin where we started a free write about whether we thought the Gulf of Tonkin incident had was provoked by the U.S. Moving on from that we got into the book “The Things They Carried.” This led to us learning about the feelings of war and the way people perceive war. We did a drawing of one of a character of choice from the book. The drawings had to show the things that person carried with them to Vietnam. As it got closer to the project we had a few veterans come and talk about their experiences to the class. They discussed PTSD and the harmful emotional effects of war. When we started our final art project we could choose any theme as long as it related to war.

During this project I worked on an art piece for a longer period of time than I usually spend on some projects. Mostly because of size and because I am sometimes a perfectionist. The other reason is I had started my art piece a little later so i didn’t use all of the time I was given. I finished my art though and now I realize ways I could use my time wiser and e more productive in the the end. As I was painting I ran into a few problems for how I should portray the refugee family. The problem was I did not have a way to make it obvious that’s who they were. After I asked someone to critique my work I got an idea to make the earth be the refugee. There is no safe place for our land and trees and the animals that live on earth to be when there is a war. That is the refugee. Earth.

I think that what I am really taking away from this project is not to judge something until I know the story behind it or the truth in the subject. War is a strange subject. What is the truth? No one really knows what happens across seas and no one knows who is truly telling the truth. I think that pain and hate and death are what war is full of. People don’t have the decency to share and accept the fact that no one is better than anyone else. I also think that there can be beauty in parts if war. Being somewhere full of hate and not being able to change that would take a toll on you, so finding something beautiful is extremely important. I think that being able to express truths about war is very important in our generation. If we learn about something when we are young we may have a better chance of changing the future to avoid these disgusting habits. Conflicting sources are always a problem with the aspect of war especially in America. The lying and deceit, deal breakers and treaty destroyers all take a part in the cause as well as the tragedies of war. If you can start to understand the ways that the Vietnam War changed the people and the world, one can realize the the stupidity of the human race. The war itself killed millions of people, destroying families and changing the lives of those involved forever.